Barrel storage system



Dec. 13, 1955 w. c. BEE 2,726,753

BARREL STORAGE SYSTEM Filed Jan. 25, 1952 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 I INVENTOR..flQZZZd/r? 6,566,

Dec. 13, 1955 Filed Jan. 23, 1952 w. c. BEE 2,726,753

BARREL STORAGE SYSTEM 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. JWZ'ZZZk/W 6, ee,

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BARREL STORAGE SYSTEM Filed Jan. 23, 1952 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 65 44 M n ffi if? INVENTOR.

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7 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Jan. 23, 1952 Z a m m y w T I i Q i MW a L Dec.13, 1955 w. c. BEE 2,726,753

BARREL STORAGE SYSTEM Filed Jan. 23, 1952 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Ill 7 VIII.1. n'

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Dec. 13, 1955 w. c. BEE 2,726,753

BARREL STORAGE SYSTEM Filed Jan. 25, 1952 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 O O I O di I.97 I I l INVENTOR. #42712, 6: ,Bee,

Dec. 13, 1955 w. c. BEE

BARREL STORAGE SYSTEM 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed Jan. 23, 1952 w F001. A) 2w 9 A Wm/vm f x w 1 W A J x W United States Patent 2,726,753 sterner:SYSTEM This invention relates to barrel storage systems, and moreparticularly to a purely mechanical system for rec'eiving' and storingquantities of barrels and withdrawing the barrels from storage asneeded, so that no manual handling is required after the barrels aredelivered to the receiving end of the system.

In the past, difiiculty has been encountered in devising a system forreceiving and storing barrels or drums in such locations as chemicalplants where the barrels are reused and develop dents andirregularities, the quantity of empty barrels to be stored will varygreatly with time, and the need for withdrawal of the barrels fromstorage will also fluctuate. Previously lgnown systems for handling andstoring these barrels have] necessitated the use of large storage areasand have'involved the unloadn; ne ns i he b nelsby a powe and a i y if nde es; so. a n a few barrels ld b a d at a t ee- It i 'e n ienhie tie nmer a rels by rolling them under n' 1 'an ial'guidance. However, du t ela ti in r s hi h are ra ate after th v en use it h een fe i e inie t el to P o d e eniee mean fe e' in b re s- F m r y t tn n ed'he t er ave.ne bee f xi l enough 'to accommodate the greatlyvarying quantities ofrre to be s e i e ts 'nl'le'yy the. ster sefi n a i t b d pende t e thedise rge ie ea' I s an ob f e i n in tien .t er ehi the s vanta es fPreY hne n arr l s e sy terns, nd to Pr v d s 's en Whieh rea y rednethe storage p ce an han lin 're ir d y'rnen rn n u il ze t n e th a b estora e yblhtne Other objects are to provide g system of the above hn eer whi h i extremelyflemlblein een trn tien and secretion; to p ov de asy en, bui t u in mult e un s which n e added e'ei 'wii ite enlar e thst m enpne y t units bein en rh independ nt wh le remain n p r of the. en e s st ni' an te P ide a eent n e i s st m for isiie't hins the barr lr in i ee i te s ora e and resh st reae. teil' et n s 'e e s in su hinnneri hn' th 1 'y r a ete the d n ieion i en ire i de ent et 9f the' eiyer r e o h te n e s e ei is also an e iee t Provide an, im rove barrelt rag em e he abe e'natnre wh h is'rel t e se'en i e e ee e and n Whiehte lendin tinnsfet nd. s her e' pert ens at he .s s in er ir i e in ereien a simey h e the hf enie eel e ly controlled.

Q her Qbiee s i etnres an ad anta e of the present inv nti n ril'heeenie a par nt i e he b u n e rat on, t ken in enin'nietib w th ther ne s inns, n h d awin s Fini e i e tenets! i win e vati n of thebarrel storage system, sh'owingthe barrel elevator, the feed conveyor,the section tiers arose storage rack unit, and the i e e e rra e nFigure 2 i s"a gene'ral plan view of the system showing four rack unitsof the storage arrangement, as well as the feed conveyor and the barreldeflecting means;

Figure 3 is fragmentary elevational view showing the structural detailsof one storage rack unit;

Figure 4' is across-sectional view taken along the line 4 4 of Figure 3and showing the disposition and supporting structure of the storagetiers;

Figure 5 is a fragmentaryview within the area 5 of Figure 4 and showingthe endless chain supporting structure of the rack; T

Figure 6 is a detail endless chain;

Figure 7' is a side elevational View of the chain showing plan view of asection of the the link connections;

Figure 3 is an elevational view of the barrel drop structure betweenadjacent tiers; i

Figure 9 is an elevational view of the barrel elevator showing itsrelation to the receiving ramp;

Figure 10 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 1 0 10 ofFigure 9 and showing the frame structure o th e e a r Figure 11 is aplan View showing the roll-otf arrangement betweeu the elevator and thefeed conveyor;

Figure 12 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 1g 1z of Figureg and showing the feed conveyor supporting'structure as Well as thedeflecting means for tne ins t e ba e s hi s e s r ee s d i e 3 i P anyiew e Per e e the ee veyor supporting structure showing the mountingmeans for the deflectors.

The invention comprises a plurality of storage racks generally indicatedat 21 which are adapted to receive, store and discharge cylindricalcontainers such as drums or barrels which are received in an emptycondition at h i iee lan n ere te e held for e nd fin te net e bef re bin se Ihe stet e reeks 21 ay f he e rpe e et th in en e c m ise le n sor as s own in he i u ated eni h n b b t he n sum of tw t e e reens. bin e a t es. hew in Fi re 2- Th te h units ere d p te b nsta led i e ineets ent e n a sh wn es bei neiese i. Wit in a heh in structure ns l sZ2 n 2 Be els re fes ed h sh e ins'ite in wall g3 along'a ramp Q5 andare carried by an elevator generally indicated at "25 to the storageracks. In par: t e r, the levat s ada ted 9 i t the a e nt n n r or feedn r ene y n i at d t 2 t e envey r eei ns the ba e to a y el c d one orthe storage elt -g1. The barrels are stored in the st e ee s unti ne edwhe the th be removed h u h a dis ha eeti n 28 o e rel e di h se ee ensn e .e' nye t e e Wheel devise shown s henia ieel a 2 5 tha h be e m beremoved at a controlled rate through an opening 3 in he dis har e setien e n n leedins p enn, 5.

Y The storage'raclr structure is best illustrated in Figures 1 to 4, heeks be suppo d above the e 2 by means of a plurality of columns 33 andbeams 34. Each storage rack is composed of'a plurality of tiers, fivetiers being shown in the illustrated embodiment and being numbered 35,36, 3 7, 33 and 3g 9 'in"o'rder of decreasing height. It will beunderstood however that the principles of the invention could be carriedout with storage racks having e d ff ren n mb of ti s d en on he tetnpee t re u rements .These tiers; w e e t y w de than the barrel height,may be of any desired length to accommodate the required number ofbarrels when lying side by side. The tiers are supported in spaced-apartrelatibnship by a supportingstructure shown best in Figtires 3 and '4.This supporting structure comprises a plurality of cross'beams 41supported by columns 33 together 'with 'dia'g onal'struts 42, and aplurality of trans- Pe tented Dec. 13, 1955 52, and the arrangementcorresponding chain supports.

, tier ends by chains 1 the barrel diameter,

' poses,

verse tier supports 43 secured between spaced uprights 44. Theseuprights 44 are supported by longitudinal beams 34 and are of a heightsuflicient to support the fivetiers. The uprights may be longitudinallyspaced as shown in Figure 3 at half the distance between columns 33,alternate uprights being aligned with the columns. The tier supports 43each hold upper and lower chain guides 45 and 46 which, as describedlater, support and guide the endless chains 47 used in each tier.Diagonal braces 48 are secured between beams 34, longitudinal guiderails 49. and intermediate beams 50. The guide rails are so spaced thatthey prevent the barrels from cocking to a locking angle duringmovement. Beams 50 lend further support to uprights 44.

As shown in detail Figure 5, the tier supports 43 are secured by gussetplates 51 to the uprights 44, and two parallel sets of chain supportsare held by each row of tier supports and form the tier bed. The upperchain support 45-and the lower chain support 46 of each set are held inspaced-apart relationship by vertical brackets is such that the chainsupports are spaced inwardly from the uprights 44 a sufficient dis tanceto enable the chains 47 to engage the cylindrical surface of the barrel.Furthermore, the upper chain support 45 holds the upper run of the chaina substantial distance above the tier supports 43, while the lower runof the chain is below the tier supports.

As is described later, the system is adapted to feed a belt is supportedby a bed the barrels onto the uppermost tiers of the rack units,

and means are provided in each rack unit for transferring the barrelsfrom the uppermost tier down to the tier 36 and from there tothesucceeding tiers, This means preferably comprises a plurality ofcurved guide rails 53 which are shown in detail in Figure 8 and aredisposed at alternate ends of the tiers. The guide rails are arcuate inform covering approximately 180, these arcs being centered on the'endportions of their The guide rails are in the, planes of the chainsupports and preferably have extensions 54 with tapered ends to receivethe barrels as they near the ends of the tiers. A pair of verticallydisposed guide plates 55 conforming in outline to the curved guide rails53 serve to enclose the area adjacent each pair of guide rails, theseguide plates being in the plane of guides 49 and serving to preventcocking of the barrels during their drop. As the barrels are carriedover the 47 they will drop between the rails 53 and curved guards 56 onthe chain support ends, the spacing between these points being slightlygreater than and the barrels will thus drop smoothly onto the chains ofthe next tier as shown by the arrow in Figure 8. One or more crossbraces 57 may be provided between the curved rails 53 for strengtheningpurthese cross braces also serving to support guide plates 55. It willbe observed that the rails 53 leading from the uppermost tier 35 to tier36 are arced only 90 since there is no structure above tier 35. I

The means for moving barrels along each tier preferably comprises chains47, which are shown in detail in Figures 6 and 7 and comprise aplurality of links 58 and 59 joined by pins 61. The chain may be of anyconventional construction but is preferably such that the edge surfaces62 of links 58 and the edge surfaces 63 of links 59 are in a singleplane, as shown in Figure 7. It will thus be seen that the chains may bedriven continuously while the barrels are stationary without unduefriction occurring, especially since the chains and barrels have 37, 38and 39.

' fleeting members 81 which only a small contact area. The chains ofuppermost tier disposed between Figure 13. When in this position,

chain supports without any scrapmg action occurring.

While the lengths of tiers 36 to 39 are approximately equal, that ofuppermost tier 35 is somewhat longer than the others in order to connectwith feed conveyor 27 which is shown most clearly in Figures 2, 12 and13. Preferably, this conveyor is supported by beams 69 secured to theupper ends of uprights 44 atone endof each rack unit 21 and extending tothe left as seen in Figure 12. These beams, which are strengthened bydiagonal braces 71, may support a catwalk 72 outwardly of the conveyor27, this catwalk being provided to facilitate control of the storage aswill be seen later. The catwalk 72 is preferably provided with a guardrail 73 and an access ladder 74 having'a guard 75, as shown in Figure 2.

The conveyor 27 comprises an endless belt 76 extending across the endsof the storagerack units 21 and driven by a motor and reduction gear 77.'The upper run of the plate 78 spaced above beams 69 by supports 79, andthe belt running on pulleys 80 is of suflicient width to carry thereonbarrels which are lying on their sides with their axes parallel to thebelt; At spaced positions adjacent this belt are a plurality of dearespaced above the belt 76 by standards 82., These deflectors 81 maycomprise rollers which are held in inclined relation with the belt axisby means of brackets 83 secured to a supporting rail 84 which in turn isheld by standards82. Thedeflectors are disposed opposite the ends of theuppermost tiers 35 and in particular are so placed that when in theirinclined position, as seen in solid lines in Figure 13, the foremostedge 85 of an approaching barrel 86 will strike the roller, and thebarrel will be moved from its solid-line position in Figure 13 to itsdot-dash position, barrel edge 85 running on the roller. An inclinedramp or floor plate .87 is the entrance to each upper tier and adjacentportion of conveyor 27, so that when the barrel is moved by deflector 81it will rolllonto ramp 87 and be carried between'theflared ends of,guides 49 to the moving chains 47 of the upper tier.

Means are provided for retracting any of the deflectors 81 from theirinclined position, and such means may comprise for example a removablepin 88 for each' deflector positioning bracket 89, so that this bracketmay swing about a pivot pin 91 into its double dot-dash position of thedeflector will be out of the path of barrels 86 as they are carriedalong by the conveyor. The supporting rails 84 will also act as guiderails for the barrels, and additional guide rails 92 are provided on theopposite side of the conveyor 27 between adjacent tiers, the spacingbetween these guide rails being slightly greater than the barreldiameter. derstood that other means could be provided for shiftingdeflectors 81 between their inclined and retracted p'osi tions, and thatthis means could if desired be controlled from the ground level.

As seen in Figure 2, .theconveyor 27 at one end may extend beyond therack units, and the elevator 26 for carrying the barrels onto theconveyor is preferably disposed at this remote end of the conveyor. Theelevator may be of any desired nature and in the illustrated embodimentlower vertical portions 98 and upperinclined portions It will beunbesupported by a base structure 103, and the chains 9 3 engage lowersprockets 105! and upper sprockets 105, the pp r sp o kets being uppored bvbear nss. and e lower sprockets by bearings 10 7. Preferably theconveyor a a div d iv s o o andre ust dn a 1 o base 103, and as,mentioned previously, the elevator is disposed adjacent ramp 2 5 which,carries the barrels 86 through aperture24in Wall 22, as seen in Figure9. Each parr o f lifting arms, 94 will therefore lift a single barrel asthey pass ramp, 2 5, the rampghaying a clearance recess (not shown) forthe arms, and the next barrel will thereupon roll into lifting position,

The transfer means for carrying the barrels from the upper portion ofthe elevator onto the feed conveyor 27 is best shown in Figures 9 and 11and comprises a pair. of rails 109 extending between the upper end ofthe elevator and the conveyor, with an. inclined roll-ofi plate 111secured between the rail ends adjacent belt 76. Preferably a guard rail112 is disposed adjacent the roll-oif plate to prevent unwanted movementof the barrels as they roll onto the belt, this guard railbeingcontiguous with longitudinal guard rail- 84.

Before describing the operation of the storage system it should bepointed out that the functioning of the system depends in no way uponthe percentage capacity which is being used at any one time, but thatthe system will perform its storage functions no matter how few or howmany barrels are actually present to be stored. For purposes ofdescription however we will assume that barrels 86 are beingcontinuously delivered by ramp onto elevator 26, by which they arepicked up singly on racks 94 and carried upwardly onto the end of feedconveyor 27 by means of rails 109. It will further be assumed that atthe beginning of operation the storage racks are entirely empty and thatno barrels are required to be removed from the storage racks.

As each barrel lands on belt 76 of the conveyor it will be carried alongby the belt and will eventually reach the entrance of the top tier ofthe first storage rack 21. Assuming that it is desiredto place thebarrels in this storage rack, the deflector 81 corresponding to thisrack will be placed in its inclined position as shown in Figure 13, thusforcing the barrels one by one onto chains 47 of this uppermost tier bymeans of inclined ramp 87. The chains 47 in all the tiers Will be drivencontinuously, so that when the barrels roll onto the chains oftheuppermost tier they will be carried along this tier until they drop offthe far end and are carried by curved tracks 53 to the tier 36. Thechains of tier 36 are driven in a direction opposite to that of tier 35,so that the barrels will be carried back in the opposite direction, andwill eventually drop onto tier 37. This action will continue until thebarrels reach the far end of the lowermost tier 39, from where they willroll down inclined discharge section 28 and be stopped by the star wheelor other discharge mechanism 29.

As more and more barrels are fed onto the storage rack they will pile upin the lowermost tier of the rack and then in the succeeding uppertiers, until eventually all five tiers and their connecting portions aresolidly filled with the barrels. At this point it should be observedthat even though the barrels are stationary in the tiers, the chains 47may still continue to run, there being little frictional loss because ofthe smooth-topped nature of the chains. When the first rack 21 hasreached its capacity, or before this point if desired, the nextsucceeding storage rack, or any other rack, may be filled or partiallyfilled with barrels by properly adjusting the deflectors 81. Forexample, if it is desired to fill the last rack 21, that is the onefurthermost along the feed conveyor 27, the deflectors for all the otherracks will be moved into their retracted position n gassslz na tr lat ohh ii Inthis manner the racksiriaybe fiueaet seont bneafrate;

and since the action positive, each rack be'fill edto capacity allitsjtiers.

When it is desired to remove a number of barrels from a particular rack,this may be done'bybperatingthe corresponding discharge 'sevicezs andejecting the gesired number of barrels through opening 30 dischargesection 23. As the barrels are removed; succeeding bar r'els, will beautomatically movedup into unloading. pasition because of the immediatefrictional; scanner belts {57 on, the barrels. Thisfmoving-up actidnwillimm'e diately be eifective through allt he tiers sinceeachftie'r hasits, own pair of chains which may be continuously d i n U It will beobserved that, except in a condition where all the storage racks aresolidlyfilledftlie rateat which barrels, are unloaded from the rack willnot'atfect'the rate at which barrels can be'stored. Furthermore, it

will be noted that the' s't ructural arrangement permits the addition orsubtraction of rack units or pairs of rack units with little redesign,the primary change being in the length of feed conveyor 27 It wouldlikewise be possible to vary the construction in order to mount theelevator 2e on'wheels riding on tracks so that it could be aligned withany one of the individual racks and thus w d me siah? o us n t d 'qnv yq27'- The ha n 47 of each tier being driven by its own motor may beoperated independently of the other chains, if desired. This isadvantageous under some circumstances; for example when no barrels arebeing withdrawn and the lowest tier or tiers are filled, the chains forthe filled tiers may be stopped and the others operated to complete therack-filling operation. While it would be possible to operate all of thechains simultaneously when loading or unloading operations are beingcarried on, it is preferred to provide separate control switches foreach chain and conveyor motor which may be controlled by conventionalpush buttons. The switch controls may be lo cated at any convenientcontrol location or may be duplicated at or divided between two controlstations, one for loading and the other for unloading. Since no harmresults from movement of the chains when the racks are filled and nobarrels are being withdrawn, no elaborate safety interlocks arerequired.

While it will be apparent that the preferred embodiment of the inventionherein disclosed is well calculated to fulfill the objects above stated,it will be appreciated that the invention is susceptible tomodification, variation and change without departing from the properscope or fair meaning ofthe subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. In a system for storing barrels, a storage rack including a pluralityof vertically spaced horizontal tiers, a bed portion on each of saidtiers adapted to simultaneously engage all the barrels on the tier, eachof said bed portions including an endless chain having a relativelysmooth contacting surface for the barrels, whereby the chain may becontinuously driven while the barrels remain stationary, successivechains being movable in opposite directions, supporting members for saidtiers holding the tiers in a unitary structure, guard rails along thesides of said tiers and spaced apart a distance siightly greater thanthe height of said barrels, and arcuate guide means extending betweenthe upper portion of each tier and the bed portion of the tier nextbelow.

2. In a system for storing barrels, a storage rack including a pluralityof vertically spaced horizontal tiers, a bed portion on each of saidtiers adapted to simultaneously engage all the barrels on the tier, eachof said bed portions including an endless chain having a relativelysmooth contacting surface for the barrels, whereby the chain may becontinuously driven while the barrels remain stationary, successivechains being movable in oppoporting means for site directions,supporting members for said tiers holding the'tiers in a unitarystructure, guard rails along the eluding a plurality of verticallyspaced horizontal tiers, a

bed portion on each of said tiers adapted to simultaneouslyengage allthe barrels on the tier, each of said bed portionsincluding ,a pair ofendless chains disposed in parallel relation on opposite sides of thecenter line of the bed' portion, said chains comprising the sole supsaidbarrels and having relatively smooth contacting surfaces for thebarrels, whereby the chains may be continuously driven while the barrelsremain stationary, chains in successive tiers being movable in oppositedirections, supporting members for said tiers holding the tiers in aunitary structure, guard rails along the sides of said tiers and spacedaparta distance slightly bed portions including a pair of endless loopedmembers disposed in parallel relation on opposite sides of the centerline of the bed portion, said looped members comprising the solesupporting means for said barrels and having relatively smoothcontacting surfaces for the barrels, whereby the looped members maybecontinuous ly driven while the barrels remain stationary, loopedmembers in successive tiers being movable in opposite directions,supporting members for said tiers holding the tiers in a unitarystructure, guard rails along the sides of said tiers and'spacedapart adistance slightly greater than the height of said barrels, and meansextending betweenone end of each tier and the adjacent end of the tiernext below for guiding said barrels;

' greater than the height of said barrels, and arcuate guide means,extending between the upper portion of each tier I and the bed portionof the tier next below.

4. In a system for storing barrels, a storage rackincluding a pluralityof vertically spaced horizontal tiers,

V a bed portion on each of said tiers adapted to simultaneously engageall the barrels on the tier, each of said References Cited in the me ofthis patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 230,144 Merry July 20, 1880 392,128Meyer Oct.30, 1888 702,408 Cook June 17, 1902 1,357,315 Dupuy Nova 2,1920 1,401,372 Sutherland Dec. 27, 1921 1,570,235 Fooks Jan. 19, 1926'1,940,978 Snow et al. Dec. 26, 1933 1,998,912 Troy Apr. 23, 19,35

